Burton is widely considered one of the most tenacious men in Congress. For instance, he was so convinced that Vincent Foster was murdered that he launched a private investigation and fired a gun in his back yard in an enactment of his theory that the White House aide was shot.

In his pursuit of the campaign finance investigation, Burton repeatedly has threatened the White House with contempt of
Congress citations for delays in providing documents.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, has criticized Burton for taking unfair control of the investigation through
"unprecedented" unilateral authority to issue subpoenas and seek depositions.

Burton himself became a subject of the Justice Department investigation into fund-raising activities in the 1996 elections after The Washington Post reported that a lobbyist for the government of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said he had been "shaken down" by the congressman.

Burton has denied he did anything wrong.

In May, Burton once again became the center of attention, first for calling President Clinton a "scumbag" and then for releasing selectively edited transcripts of Whitewater figure Webster L. Hubbell's prison conversations.

In August, Burton acknowledged that he is the father of a
child who was born out of wedlock.